Don’t take
accursed money. Don’t take money from Christian organizations, missions, or
those either directly or indirectly connected to missions. I am certainly not
saying that if you take the money you, G-d forbid, will become a Christian.
Others will, however. After all, giving money is their entrance ticket into the
Jewish People to convert them. Already in his time, Maran Ha-Rav Kook wrote
(Igrot Ha-Re’eiyah, Volume 2) that it is wrong to accept medicines from Christians,
even where life is in danger, because as a result the gates will be opened to
their converting other Jews.

We know
them well. If you don’t believe me, look up the links on the Internet and see
for yourself. We have known them already for two thousand years. At first they
wished to convert us, and once they did not succeed, they tried to annihilate
us, yet that didn’t succeed either. So then they tried to expel and trample us,
and G-d saved us from them. Then they decided to persecute and humiliate us.
When none of these things succeeded, they decided to conquer us through the
pocketbook, and then the “Money Crusade” began.

This is
their new approach. Check on the Internet. At the start of the Return to Zion,
the Muslims and Christians got together. The Muslims said, “Kill them!” The
Christians said, “Strangle them with a hug,” and such, indeed, is their
approach. We’ve had a protracted war against paganism, starting from Avraham
until today. Rambam in his Guide to the Perplexed explained that the entire
Torah has a single message: we face a war against idolatry, in which we shall
be increasingly victorious and idolatry shall increasingly disappear. True,
numerous idolaters remain in the Far East, but at present, they do not
constitute a serious threat. It is not so with Christianity, however, which has
two billion proponents.

It is true
that officially, Christianity does not consider itself idolatry, and if you ask
a Christian if it is he will deny it vigorously. Yet if you ask him, “Do you
pray to Jesus, the Christian?” he will answer “Of course”.

You might
then ask, “If so, you are worshipping flesh and blood. Isn’t that idolatry?”

“No,” he
will explain. “That man is not a man. He is God. God from God. Light from

light.”

You
could then respond, “In that case, it is certainly idolatry.”

As
far as turning a man into a god, what can that be if not idolatry?! We are not
dealing here with the question of whether or not according to Jewish law
“Dualism”, the worship of G-d and of something else with it, is included in the
prohibition against idolatry as it applies to non-Jews. According to Rambam it
is, but according to one opinion brought in Rabbenu Tam it is not. For
ourselves, however, it is certainly idolatry. Just peruse the halachic codes
dealing with our lives, Shulchan Aruch or Kitzur Shulchan Aruch. These contain
the detailed laws of idolatry.

If so,
when it comes to Christians, just who are we dealing with? And what about the
cross? What role does that have?

We wage a
war against idolatry, while the Christian religion wages war against the Torah
in every possible way, openly and surreptitiously. Each year in Israel, the
Mission pours hundreds of millions of dollars into purchasing our faith and
breaching the pathways to our hearts, whether directly or through Jewish
organizations.

In Israel
there are thousands of missionaries earning a salary, and tens of thousands
more working as volunteers, everywhere possible, very deftly disguised. One
serves as a Chabad rabbi, another gives Bible lessons to women, a third is a
lieutenant colonel with a knit-Kippah who was a resident of Gush Katif, and as
a result was ousted from the army, turned to the High Court of Justice and was
rejected. Still another is a religious Zionist couple who are really
missionaries. “Small-fry” missionaries include a yeshiva high school graduate
and a girl who graduated from a religious “Ulpana” all-girls’ school. And there
are more. And they do all of this just to break the ice. Otherwise, how can we
explain that when they provide a welfare department with money for the poor,
the gift is conditional on their receiving the names and addresses of the
recipients?

It’s
absolutely forbidden! All the same there are some who do take the money,
because money attracts, because money blinds the eyes of the wise, and distorts
the words of the righteous. Unless you immediately answer “no”, you will be
swept up and fall into the trap.

The
following is a true story. Thirty years ago, a pleasant man from America
approached me with an irresistible offer: he told me that because of the
proximity of Yeshivat Ateret Cohanim-Ateret Yerushalayim to the Temple Mount,
he could raise one dollar a year from fifty million people – and he would
donate it all to the Yeshivah. He asked me if I would agreed. Do you know what
I answered him?

One word:
“No!”

That
American, and many more like him, truly love the Land of Israel, the People of
Israel, the State of Israel. And they truly help us a great deal on the
political level. But they also love our souls, and they wish to transfer our
souls to their side. Therefore, with those Christians we can say yes to
politics, yes to business dealings but no to friendship and no to their
“charitable donations”.

Mission Statement

To Enrich the spiritual life of the English-speaking World through the Torah of Ha-Rav Shlomo Aviner, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Ateret Yerushalayim in the heart of the Old City of Jerusalem. By offering English translations of Rav Aviner’s written and oral Torah, this division of the yeshiva aims to expose English speakers to a powerful, sensitive and poetic voice unparalleled in our time. His unfailing optimism, his tolerance and love all Jews, his guidance for harmony within the Jewish family and his dedication to Eretz Yisrael, the State of Israel and Tzahal will inspire and enrich the lives of all who may now have access to his words.